Share:

Kevin Greene will be the latest great pass rusher to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, and that got us thinking: Is Greene a top-10 pass rusher in NFL history? If not, who is?

Sporting News set out to rank the Top 25 pass rushers in NFL history, an exercise that certainly wasn't easy. It’s almost impossible to compare the era of Deacon Jones and Gino Marchetti to the modern pass-happy era of the NFL that has made stars out of J.J. Watt and Von Miller. All of those guys are on this list, but the ranking is made difficult by the fact the NFL didn’t start tracking sacks until 1982.

24Merlin Olsen

One of two members of the "Fearsome Foursome" on this list, Olsen never had gaudy sack totals, but his presence on the interior over a 15-year career was always understood. Olsen is one of the greatest interior pass rushers of all time to this day.

23Julius Peppers

Peppers’ freakish talent off the edge has been on display for 14 seasons, and he’s reinvented his career with 17.5 sacks over the past two seasons for the Packers. Peppers has 136 career sacks and needs just 5.5 this season to move into the top five all time.

20Von Miller

Come back in three of four years, and Miller will be in the Top 10. He’s averaged 12 sacks per season in his first five years, and he hijacked Super Bowl 50 with a dominant performance that landed him MVP honors for the Broncos.

18Chris Doleman

Doleman was one of the true defensive ends of the 1980s and 90s, and his longevity led to 150.5 sacks through a Hall of Fame career. Doleman led the league with 21 sacks in 1989, and he had eight seasons with 10 or more sacks.

17Mark Gastineau

Gastineau could easily be ranked higher on this list. If we’re talking pure, unadulterated pass-rushing talent, few had the impact he did when he led the league in back-to-back seasons with 41 total sacks from 1984-85.

16Jack Youngblood

He’s still best known for playing through a broken leg through the Rams run to Super Bowl XIV, and that’s the jumping-off point for a 14-year career that produced seven Pro Bowl appearances and an unofficial total of 151.5 sacks.

13Jared Allen

Allen is yet another larger-than-life personality on this list, and like Randle he settled into a groove in Minnesota. There, Allen ignited his career with six straight seasons with double-digit sacks, including a league-high 22 sacks in 2011.

12Doug Atkins

Atkins is another defensive end whose career stretched from the 1953-69 who terrorized quarterbacks off the edge for the Browns, Bears and Saints. Atkins was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and renowned for a nasty disposition on the field.

10Gino Marchetti

Marchetti is another Hall of Fame pass rusher that comes with his unforgettable legend. Marchetti fractured his ankle in the 1958 NFL championship game, but he chose to watch from the sideline until the Colts won.

Marchetti doesn’t have an official total, but the 11-time Pro Bowl selection remains one of the best defensive ends of the 1950s and 60s.

9Kevin Greene

Between Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, Greene was the quintessential 3-4 outside linebacker. He had 10 seasons with 10 or more sacks and led the league in 1994 and 1996. Greene’s pro-wrestling persona made it all that more fun to watch.

7"Mean" Joe Greene

You can’t strictly think of Greene as a pass rusher. Sacks weren’t tracked then, and he didn’t have a ridiculous sack total. Yet what Greene did from the interior opened up everything for the rest of the "Steel Curtain."

6Derrick Thomas

Thomas still holds the single-game sack record with seven, and he averaged 11.5 sacks per season for his career. Thomas might be the greatest college pass rusher of all time, and he lived up to that hype at the next level.

5Bruce Smith

Smith holds the all-time record as the only NFL player with 200 career sacks. He averaged 10.5 sacks per season through a dominant career, and he helped lead the Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowl appearances.

4Deacon Jones

Jones was the most outspoken member of the "Fearsome Foursome," and he’s credited with inventing the term "sack." Sack totals weren’t kept during Jones’ time, but he unofficially had three seasons with 20 or more sacks.

3J.J. Watt

Yep, we’re going there. Through five seasons, Watt has 74.5 sacks — an amazing 14.9 sacks per season. Think about it. Is there anybody other than the next two guys who has made an impact on a game plan quite like Watt other than maybe Deacon Jones?

Watt can dominate at any spot on the line, and he can play offense, too. Longevity is the key moving forward, but Watt is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. That’s why we’re comfortable with him in this spot. He’s that good.

White totaled 198 sacks — 12.5 per season — and led the league twice with the Eagles in 1987-88. White also helped revive Green Bay and led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI. You can sum it all up in four words: "The Minister of Defense."

1Lawrence Taylor

Ever since Taylor’s star erupted in New York in the 1980s, other NFL franchises have sought to find "the next Lawrence Taylor." No player gave offensive coordinators more nightmares than "LT," who was the lightning rod in Bill Parcells’ two-time Super Bowl champion teams.

Taylor finished with 132.5 sacks, averaging 10.2 per season, and probably would’ve had more if not for off-the-field issues and injuries. Still, no player wrecked a game plan off the edge quite like Taylor. He’s still the best pass rusher of all time. We haven’t found the next one yet.